Big White in BC is next, December 2-3rd.
So A little more on Mt. Hood.
We got the engine back together at the beginning of the week, and only had to mod the intake, exhaust, and get the car tuned. We called Dom at Maxwell power, and he said he would try to fit us in between appointments he already had. We had let him know a couple weeks ago we would need a tune and it would be last minute, but because we got the motor together so late and were waiting on parts so long, there were only days left. He was unable to get to the car until Thursday, when his guys and I went to town on the exhaust. To get the car onto the trailer, we cut a circular plate, took the hot side of the turbo off, and blocked it. This was just a quick bolt on to drive he car onto the trailer which had to be parked up the street (live on a big hill with WAY too much traffic).
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With ended up getting a new exhaust manifold, as the stock one robs soo much power, that with NA we needed anything we could get. This will also be a great piece when we move back into open. So to finish the exhaust, we fabbed a new pieces to go from the header, up and over the crossmember, and into our 3". It turned out to be a pretty crazy piece, especially since we didn't have a mandrel bender, just using pie cuts to get the angles we needed. The guys at Maxwell worked late on the car, but Dom wasn't able to get the tune done in time for us to leave Thursday, so we would have to miss Recce. Luckily our friends with 401 Rally offered to let us copy their notes so we would at least have something. Friday morning Dom hammered out the tune, car made 149hp and 150q. Everything was running well, except we had a plug that kept popping off the #4 coilpack. A zip tie seemed work as a temporary fix, and we were off.
Made it to registration just as it opened, and got everything sorted. We then headed to the campground where the rally HQ and service was located. Tuesday set to work with Jason to copy his notes, and I unloaded the rally car and took it up to service. We made it through with two small problems, a license plate bulb was out and I had pulled a mudflap off unloading the car. After tech, we headed to the novice meeting, which lasted until 21:00. After that, Tuesday worked to setup our service area and tents, and I headed to the local Walmart to pick up a few last minute things. After I got back our crew had arrived, and we set to work to finish the last couple items such as applying the new Rally America stickers, adjusting the belts to where we wanted them, and putting a new mudflap on.
Sat morning rolled around, and we got up nice and early to top off the car with fuel, check all the fluids, and do a final once over. We pulled into park expose a few minutes early (to make up for having to leave last year to fix the rotor
) and we were soon on the first transit. First stage went well, mostly just getting used to the new motor since I hadn't driven it yet, and making some adjustments to the brake bias. Tuesday was quickly getting back in the hang of co-driving, and we made it back to the first service incident free.
A quick check over things, some water and food, and we were back out to Rd 17 and Fir mountain. The first two short stages went well, and we were sitting third in class. We got to Fir Mountain, the longest stage of the day, and found out we would be transitting. Apparently the first car of Mark Fox had almost hit a motorcycle, so they shut the stage down. During the transit thru the long stage, we started to hear and fell something clunking and moving. Steering seemed a bit off, but couldn't really tell at 25mph. After we got to the next stage, we didn't have time to check it out, so we decided to just push on. Throughout the stage things just started to feel more and more funny, and I could tell something was moving. Initial thought was motor or transmission mount as I could feel something moving up and down. We made it through the stage, and as soon as we got into service our crew went to down. The culprit? The cotter pin had sheered off and the castle nut on the lower ball joint was only on by a couple threads. The feeling was the ball joint/knuckle moving around. Quick fix, and we were back out. Again, rd 17 went well, and the second pass of Fir Mountain started off great. We were pushing a bit harder, and it was easily the fastest stage of the day for us. About 2/3rd thru, we cam up on a red cross. DAMN....a car had rolled and was completely blocking the stage. The rotated the car so we could squeeze past, and it was another transit for the long stage. All we had left was one more pass, and it began to get dark. The last stage we ended up getting stuck in hanging dust, and lost quiet a bit of time. We ended up 3rd in Open Light out of 8 cars, a minute behind 2nd and 2 behind 1st. It was a great rally and we had a ton of fun, and finished like we set out to do. There was a ton of room to push harder, but we just wanted to get a finish and seat time, and start to get the feel for the new car.
On the way home, just after I switched from driving to let our co-driver take over, we blew a trailer tire. Of course we were on the bridge in between Oregon and Washington, so it was kind of a nightmare. Luckily, someone from Sweep happened to pass, pulled over behind us, and made sure we didn't get hit while changing the tire. Again thanks for looking out for us and sweeping the whole way home!
